


Triangle

by catsandanxiety



Category: Gravity Falls, Invader Zim
Genre: F/F, Family, Jealousy, M/M, Multi, Older Pines Twins, Polyamory, gonna be lots of feelings, older dib, ratings may change for later chapters, will prob have poly stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:21:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25613500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catsandanxiety/pseuds/catsandanxiety
Summary: Zim crash lands in Gravity Falls. He's found by a curious and kind Dipper. However, there's no way Dib is too far behind his alien rival, and he'll make sure the irken menace isn't up to anything evil. Neither Dib nor Zim are expecting just how weird this small, sleepy town actually is. But what's even weirder than THAT... Why is the Pines family so nice?(A fic about found family, jealousy, confusing feelings and supernatural weirdness)
Relationships: Dib (Invader Zim)/Dipper Pines, Dib/Zim (Invader Zim), Dipper Pines/Dib/Zim, Dipper Pines/Zim, Gaz (Invader Zim)/Mabel Pines
Comments: 23
Kudos: 94





	1. Crash

Zim realized much too late that he hadn’t quite thought this through.

In his haste, he’d forgotten to pack his brilliant disguise, consisting of a wig and (admittedly scratchy) contact lenses. It helped him blend in perfectly with Earth’s dominant species, the humans. Without it, they would notice he was different and nab him up. They would send him to horrible Earth labs to cut him up and see how his amazing superior irken organs worked. 

He didn’t think he would run into this problem, as he was traveling inside of his cloaked Voot Cruiser, completely invisible. But he hadn’t accounted for the risk, the possibilities of failure. Why would he? Zim was usually perfect at everything. This was simply a freak accident! Someone even as amazing as Zim could not have accounted for this! 

It had come out of nowhere. A flying beast in the night sky with a long, sharp beak. As it glided by, a giant wing crashed into his small Cruiser and knocked Zim straight into the trees below. It was a bumpy landing, the ship bouncing along different tree trunks and branches, and Zim’s body slammed and tumbled all around the interior of his ship. He grabbed for the controls to try and ease his landing, but didn’t reach in time before the ship careened into the ground. 

Zim wasn’t sure how much time had passed at first when his PAK jolted him awake again. He checked his internal clock to find he had been unconscious for several minutes. His antennae twitched as he painfully lifted his head. He felt wetness on his lip, and after pressing a finger to it and inspecting the fluid on his glove, he knew he was bleeding.

“Blasted infernal STINK planet…” Zim growled under his breath as he sat up straighter and checked the damages on his Voot. The cloaking had turned off, so it was visible again. He had some things to fix, and it wasn’t going to be easy away from his base. What had even hit him?? It looked like no Earth bird or evil death bee Zim had ever seen in the sky before!

Carefully, Zim opened the hatch of his ship and crawled out, sucking in the fresh air and weakly flopping onto the grass. His eyes took in his surroundings. Tree, tree, tree, bushes, more trees. He was in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. Well, at least that meant no humans. No one could see him like this. Disguiseless! Injured! He couldn’t let the humans think he was weak! 

After taking a moment to let his unfortunate situation sink in, Zim got to work. He pushed himself up again and pulled himself over to his ship to start repairs. Two PAK legs emerged from his back as he started the mending. 

Then he heard a twig snap, and noticed a bright light on him from behind. Zim froze, eyes going big, then whipped around. His hand came up to shield his eyes from the light. A flashlight. 

“Hey, I’m not gonna hurt y--” a voice started.

Zim squawked in a panic and dove back into his ship, the hatch slamming shut behind him. Maybe not the best plan. Now there was nowhere to go! But he couldn’t stay out there. What was a person doing out here anyway?? Everything was going wrong! Zim curled up, hugging his knees and staring upwards at the pink tinted glass. 

He saw what looked like a young human male step up, looking down into the ship with the flashlight. The human had fluffy brown hair, big brown eyes with lines underneath them like he didn’t get enough sleep, and wore a red flannel type shirt. Zim didn’t see any malice on his face, but he was still completely freaked out. This human found him completely vulnerable. Well, if he tried anything, he was going to get a PAK leg through the chest. 

The human lightly tapped on the glass. “I can help you!” He called. 

Zim’s face wrinkled up, brows furrowing suspiciously. Help? Why would a human HELP? 

“Did you crash? Are you injured?” the human continued. “Can you understand me?”

“LEAVE ME ALONE, BLASTED HUMAN! OR I’LL TEAR YOUR ARMS OFF!!” 

Well, that answered one of the questions. The alien could understand. With that, the human raised his free hand as a sign of peace. “I just want to help! Look, uh… Tell me what you need and I’ll go get it for you. Bandages? Tools?” 

“NOPE!” Zim shouted, scooting back as far as he could. “I need NOTHING from YOU!” 

The human frowned, tilting his head, then lowered the flashlight. “But it looks like you’re bleeding!” 

“This is completely normal!” Zim yelped, but now couldn’t stop trembling. Was this how it ended? In the woods at night, all by himself and with a human who was going to kill him. 

“Okay.. Alright.. I’m backing up. I left my backpack over there. I have a first aid kit inside. I’m gonna get it for you, okay?” 

Zim opened his mouth but no answer came out. He didn’t know what to say. It didn’t matter anyway because the human turned and walked out of his view. Gingerly, the irken sat up and peered through the hatch window to see the human kneeling down by a backpack and pulling out a small kit. Well, he hadn’t been lying… Maybe he wasn’t lying about wanting to help either? 

The fluffy haired human walked back over to the ship, set the first aid kit down in front of it, then backed up again. “Here! You can come get it if you want.”

Zim eyed him suspiciously, but after a few seconds, slowly lifted the hatch of the ship and poked his head out. The human smiled, and it seemed kind and genuine… Zim had never really seen that kind of look directed towards him before. He reached down to grab the first aid kit and sat back, leaving his ship’s hatch open. He dug into the kit for disinfectant and bandages. Still, he felt a little light headed, unable to focus. His head hurt, his leg was stinging, and his side burned. His PAK was alerting him to multiple injuries, tears in his flesh. His hands shook so bad he almost dropped the kit. He felt like he was still in shock about a human seeing him like this. This planet shot his paranoia and anxiety through the roof. 

“I can help,” Zim jolted as the human spoke again, seeming to notice his struggle. “I promise, I just want to help.”

“Prom.. iss?” Zim tried to repeat. 

“Yeah..” the human smiled again. “My name’s Dipper.. What should I call you?” 

“Dipper?” Zim made a face, then looked down. “...I am Zim. You are saying you are not here to cut me open?” 

“What? Of course I’m not!” Dipper waved his hands frantically. “Why would I do that?” 

“Because you are jealous of my superior organs!” 

“Uhhh… no. Look, man, I just wanna make sure you’re okay. This crash looks like it was pretty bad, and there’s blood all over you,” Dipper explained. 

“Eugh! FINE! Show me how to use these ridiculously primitive Earthen medical tools!” Zim huffed, throwing the kit back onto the ground. 

“Okay..” Dipper held back a laugh, walking forward and kneeling down. He grabbed a few things from the kit. “I’m gonna touch your head.. Is that okay?” 

“Do it before I kill you,” Zim grumped, staying still as Dipper leaned a bit too close for comfort and disinfected the cut on his head. The irken hissed in pain as it worked, and a bandage was wrapped around the wound. Despite the sting of the medicine, the touch was very gentle, careful. It was strange. Unnerving. 

“Anywhere else?” 

“..No,” Zim lied. His head was most important anyway. And he wanted hands off him now.

“You think you’re gonna be able to get this ship back off the ground anytime soon?” Dipper asked. 

“Of course I am! After some quick and simple repairs!” Zim insisted. He was lying, but he sounded confident enough. 

Dipper tilted his head, as though deciding whether or not to believe him anyway. “Hm.. Well, okay. Here’s more bandages in case you need it. Uh.. If you by some chance don’t get this off the ground tonight--” 

“I WILL!!” 

“..Riiight… I’m staying in a place called the Mystery Shack. It’s that way,” he gestured, “about five minutes away, walking. You can stay there while you heal and gather supplies, if you want. Also… be careful. It can get kinda weird out here, especially at night. It’s safer in the Shack.” 

Zim squinted an eye at him, brows furrowed. “...Eh?” 

To Zim’s surprise, Dipper stood back up then, and began walking off in the direction he’d specified. Why would he just walk away if he intended to capture Zim? Was this a trick? 

Dipper turned and waved at Zim before disappearing through the trees, leaving Zim completely alone again. 

“Will I ever understand humanity?” Zim grumbled to himself, quickly grabbing the supplies Dipper left for him and carefully attempting to treat the rest of his wounds. He lifted his dark pink uniform tunic to clean up the scrapes, and patch up any tears. His PAK would have him all healed by morning, luckily. 

But right now, Zim was sore, exhausted, and scared. He kept hearing noises. His antennae quivered. Zim had an idea on what Dipper meant about it getting weird out here. A beast had knocked Zim out of the sky, and he’d done his research on this Gravity Falls place. It was why he was here, as part of his next evil plan. But Zim hadn’t planned on a broken ship and an injured body within the first ten minutes he’d been here. He was out of his element already. 

He jumped with a start when he heard what sounded like deep breathing, and he could’ve sworn he saw red eyes in the shadows. 

Maybe he should give this Mystery Shack a thought. 

Almost before Zim could process it, he was stumbling after the human who had disappeared into the darkness. He unsheathed his PAK legs and used those to swiftly bound over the bumpy terrain of the forest. If this human was telling the truth, he wanted to help Zim, then the alien would find safety in this shelter. If he was lying, well, Zim was confident he could get himself back out of the situation. Humans were squishy and fragile, and Zim had knives and lasers installed in his back. 

In short, Zim would much rather take on humans than horrifying forest creatures of the night in this place. 

Zim squeaked and crashed into a garbage can which went toppling over. Dipper, who was on the back porch, jumped and whipped around. Zim hated how the human’s dumb eyes lit up. 

“Zim!”

“Just let me in!” 

Dipper smiled and opened the door for him. The alien quickly darted inside.


	2. UFO

Once inside the “Mystery Shack”, as Dipper had called it, Zim was quietly ushered up the rickety wooden stairs, and into a dark bedroom. There were two beds on either side. One of them was occupied by a snoozing human. Dipper placed a finger to his lips, and Zim recognized it as a signal his teachers in “skool” would do to him a lot. He had come to the conclusion it meant “shut up”. Zim, for once, didn’t make a sound, as Dipper walked about the room, gathering blankets and pillows and making a little nest on the floor with them. 

Dipper pointed at Zim and then gestured to the makeshift bed. He couldn’t help but stare for a moment. Zim’s eyes were bright magenta in the lowlight of the room; they were practically glowing. Aliens were so cool. This entire time, Dipper had been exercising an ungodly amount of self control in not completely nerding out that he had found an alien and it was in his room! The time for nerd outs would be in the morning, and not in the middle of the night where his excited squealing could wake up his whole family. It was this same dorky excitement that sort of pushed back some caution. This alien could be dangerous. Maybe he shouldn’t have brought him here. But Zim was injured and scared, and obviously had never been in the woods of Gravity Falls before, at least Dipper assumed this, and he wasn’t sure how Zim would fare out there alone. Dipper was well equipped to handle a multitude of paranormal creatures by now. And he, of course, had to act like a bit of a hero and take in this injured creature under his wing. He hadn’t forced him here, after all. Zim had come running after him! 

Zim moved slowly, limping a bit, and sank down into the plush, made-up bed for him. He was irken, he did not sleep, but just lying down and resting here would allow him to heal even faster. He kept his antennae perked and alert however. This was still an unknown place, and he couldn’t let his guard down. He watched and listened as Dipper moved into the empty actual bed, which Zim assumed was his. 

“We’ll figure out what to do in the morning. My uncles can help,” Dipper whispered. “We’ll get the parts needed for your ship.” And then he was closing his eyes. 

Zim stayed still for the rest of the night, resting and waiting and processing. 

He wasn’t sure when he had closed his eyes, but later when he opened them again, he got an eyeful of a huge, grinning, human face. Zim shrieked and fell backwards, scooting away, as this girl squealed and stood up straight again. 

“Sorry!! Thought you were sleeping! Hi! I’m Mabel!” the girl greeted, the loud voice grating to Zim’s senses after so long of silence. 

“STAY BACK!” he yelped. “I AM ZIIIIM!” 

“Ugh, Mabel!” Dipper was groggily sitting up in bed. “Don’t scare him off, he’s hurt!”

“What happened??” Mabel gasped. 

“A horrible bird beast from this filthy town knocked me from the sky!” Zim pointed accusingly. “I had no other choice but to come here! DO NOT get used to it!” 

“Bird beast?” Mabel glanced back at her brother. 

“Oh, shit!” Dipper rubbed his eyes, realizing. “It must have been one of the pterodactyls!” 

“I’m sure it was an accident!” Mabel assured Zim. 

“Peh! Accident or not! The blasted creature forced me to the ground and now I am stuck with the likes of YOU! Squealing Earthworm!” Zim reached up to touch his head. No more pain. He must be healed. He tugged the blood-stained bandage off his head, drawing a laser from his pak, and disintegrated the evidence of his DNA. 

The two humans were staring at him with big eyes. 

“You’re healed already!” Dipper stated the obvious, causing Zim to scowl. 

“Of course I am! You expect me to be as weak as a puny human??” 

“I like him!” Mabel giggled, plopping down next to the indignant irken, who scooted away a few more inches for more space. “So what’s your story, Zim? Why’d you come to Earth?” 

“I..” Zim stopped himself. He was still in a vulnerable position, disguiseless, without his cruiser, far from the safety of his secret base. If he told them his true purpose, like his impulse wanted, they could try to capture him, hurt him, or expose him to the rest of the world. That’s what Dib had wanted when he suspected Zim’s true intentions right off the bat. “Ehh.. Observation mission! I am simply studying this filthy place!” he lied, gritting his teeth in a grimace that he hoped could also pass for a smile. 

“That’s so cool…” Dipper breathed, at the same time Mabel shouted: “We could help!!” 

Zim’s antennae twitched, eyeing them. “Heh?”

“We can show you aaaaall about Earth!” Mabel offered. “The ways of the humans!”

Zim stared at her, the gears in his head turning. “...Yes. I am curious about this town as well. I heard from my research that it is… different.” 

“You heard right,” Dipper smiled, a sparkle in his eye. It was clear he was passionate about this. “Yeah, we could show you around and stuff. I’ve studied this town for a long time, and so has my great uncle!” 

“Yeah! They’re big ol’ nerds! And I can teach you the COOL stuff!” Mabel cackled, causing Dipper to throw a pillow at her, which she deflected with a dramatic karate chop.

Zim drummed his fingers together as though scheming up an evil plan (which he was). “Excellent…” He could use these two. Make them think he was on their side. They were so different from the humans back “home”, where he had set up his base. They were eager to help. FOOLS. Everyone else wanted to hurt or just ignore Zim. This hands-on experience could prove much more useful than the research he got from his computer, and the dreadfully boring and painful Skool experience. 

Both twins were looking at him, so he ceased his evil scheming hands.

“I do have one little problem, perhaps you could assist me with,” Zim continued, holding up a slender, gloved finger. “I seem to have misplaced my human disguise.” 

Mabel stood up straight, sucking in a deep breath and looking upwards as though responding to a distant calling... “Leave that to Mabel.” She took off towards her closet. 

Dipper slid out of bed, chuckling. “She’ll take care of that for you. I’m gonna go talk to my uncle. Hey, do you eat human food?”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT,” Zim crossed his arms, shaking his head. “No need to bother with this.” 

“Okay. Mabel, I’ll be downstairs! Come down when you’re done!” Dipper called, and headed out. 

Zim watched him go, then turned to this… Mabel girl. Certainly different from Dipper though similar in facial structure. Definitely different in demeanor than any other human he’d met. 

She already had a few wigs and a pile of clothes in her hands. “Let’s get this started.” 

The next few moments for Zim were a bit of a blur. 

After turning on some pop music, Mabel would hand Zim different wigs and he would put them on, then she would give him accessories and hold up different outfits to him to see how everything went together, and then repeat. She was using a lot of clothes that she’d left here from when she was a kid, because Zim was quite small. Zim shuffled around necklaces, big sunglasses, shirts, skirts, shoes. Mabel moved so fast, Zim couldn’t really tell what was even HAPPENING. 

In the end, Zim stood in front of the mirror, turning every which way and inspecting himself. He had on big pink sunglasses to hide his eyes, a dark wig to hide his antennae, similar in shade to his usual one but it was styled in a bob, and on top of his invader uniform that he refused to take off, he had a pearl necklace, a t-shirt with a cartoon cat on it, and a pink skirt. 

“You look adorable!” Mabel gushed. 

“And human??” Zim asked quickly, as that was the only part he cared about. 

“Yeah! Well, not much we can do about the green skin, though I could go get my makeup!” 

“I just say it is a skin condition,” Zim assured, not worried about it, as he adjusted the sunglasses (which were taped to his head, hidden underneath his wig). 

“And that works?” 

“Yup!”

Mabel pursed her lips, tapping her chin, then shrugged. “Okay! Let’s head downstairs!” 

When the pair stepped into the kitchen, Zim leaned backwards, as he had another human right in his face, inspecting him. This time, a much older adult male, though Zim noticed similarities in his face to Dipper. Likely a relative. Mabel laughed and grabbed this new person’s arm, backing him up a bit from Zim. “Not so close, Grunkle Ford! He’s still getting used to all this!”

“Absolutely fascinating! I wasn’t sure I’d ever meet any aliens here!” the man straightened up, trying to recompose himself. He held out a hand to Zim. “Stanford Pines. A pleasure to meet you.” 

Zim made a face at his hand, then stopped and did a double take. “...Do humans usually have that many fingers?” 

Ford smiled, pulling his hand back, assuming Zim didn’t know what a handshake was. “No. I’m a bit of a special case.” 

“You’ve definitely been Mabel-fied,” Dipper piped up from the table, grinning as he looked over Zim’s new disguise. 

Zim stood as tall as he could, hands on his hips confidently. “I am Zim.” 

“Zim,” in a flash, Ford had out a journal and a pen. “What’s your species called, Zim?” 

“The mighty irken race!” Zim eyed the journal. “No more of these questions! I simply wish to repair my ship and be on my way. Eh… Studying! Studying Earth.”

“Of course! I’m sure we could help with that! And there will be time for questions later…” Before Zim could object to that, Ford went on. “Actually, a UFO crash landed here a long time ago, and I’ve been down there multiple times to scavenge for parts. Perhaps you will find something useful in there, too,” Ford suggested. 

“UFO?” Zim tilted his head. 

“Another alien ship,” the man clarified. 

“ANOTHER? On Earth?!” Zim exclaimed. “How long ago?” 

“Ah, it had to have been millions of years ago. Long before any of us were even alive,” Ford guessed. 

Zim rubbed his chin, squinting suspiciously. “Hmmmm… Yes. Take me to this ship.”

“We’ll have to be careful not to activate the security system,” Ford added sheepishly. “Things got a little dangerous last time. But no matter. We know what to expect.” 

“Yeah!” Dipper added. “We can handle it!”

Before heading out to this “UFO”, Mabel insisted they show Zim around town first, to get him more familiar with everything. Ford stayed behind to pack, while the twins led Zim out. Mabel was glad to point out every place of business and all her favorite spots. 

“That’s the arcade, the diner, McGucket’s house! The mayor used to live there! That’s where Dipper got beat up by a video game character that came to life once!” Mabel explained. “That way is the mall! Ooh! Here comes Pacifica! HIII, PACIFICA!!” she began waving frantically to a blonde woman who had just exited the mall, carrying a few shopping bags. 

Pacifica raised a brow, and headed over to the twins, eyeing over their new friend. “Hey, dorks. Who’s this?” 

“I am ZIM,” he shouted, glancing around nervously, then stuck his hand straight out. “Normal to meet you!” 

Pacifica put down her shopping bags at her feet and awkwardly shook his hand. “Um… Okay.” 

“He’s not… from around here,” Dipper grinned sheepishly. 

“I can tell,” Pacifica crossed her arms, giving the twins a look. She knew this town had strange creatures within it. It wasn’t a shock to her anymore. So the fact that they were even bothering to fool her right now was downright insulting. 

“Okay, he’s an alien Dipper found!” Mabel blurted.

Zim gasped. “Hey!” 

“It’s okay, Zim! Pacifica’s all cool!” Mabel assured, wrapping an arm around the blonde, who was a bit stiff in her hold. “She won’t rat you out to the authorities!” 

“Honestly, I’d much rather just stay out of it at this point,” Pacifica rolled her eyes. 

“Nooo worries. We’re just showing him around because he wants to learn more about humans,” Dipper explained. “And we’re gonna fix up his ship that crashed.” 

“Well, good luck. Humanity kinda sucks,” Pacifica smirked, picking her shopping bags back up. “Have fun with these dweebs.” 

“We will teach him that humanity does NOT suck!” Mabel gasped.

“I guess you’d be the one to do that,” Pacifica’s expression softened, and she lightly elbowed Mabel, before heading off on her way. 

Mabel giggled quietly. “She used to hate me! Can you believe it? ME?” 

Zim suddenly smacked both humans in the arms as Pacifica went out of eyesight. “What is the point of a disguise if you will just give me away!?” 

Mabel rubbed her arm. “Aww, sorry, Zim! Pacifica is a friend so I thought it would be okay!” 

“NO!” Zim threw his arms up. “It is important to me that I stay a normal human as far as everyone is concerned!” 

Dipper placed a hand on Zim’s shoulder, making the irken jump a bit. “You’re right. Sorry, we should have asked you first,” he agreed. “We won’t tell anyone else.”

Zim had been about to shove Dipper away, but he relaxed slightly, crossing his arms and looking over the man. “...Good.” 

“Sorry, Zimmm,” Mabel sighed, feeling bad. “I won’t do it again!” 

Zim had nothing else to say. They were admitting they were wrong and agreeing with him? They cared what he thought? Was this still the Earth he knew? Still humans? “...Okay.” 

Mabel grabbed Zim’s hand. “C’mon! Let’s look around a bit more, then we’ll go get Ford for that UFO field trip!” 

\----

“Right here,” Ford pushed the large rock out of the way with a grunt, and some help from Dipper (the older man was getting up there in years).

Zim glanced down at the deep hole, noticing the ladder that led into it. “The ship is down there, you say?”

“Sure is!” Dipper exclaimed. “Ready?” He grabbed hold of the ladder to go first. 

Zim quickly followed the human, and then Ford after him. Mabel had gotten caught up with some of her friends in town, and had gone off with them instead, to go shopping for more disguises for Zim. She seemed very enthusiastic about the whole thing. 

Once down in the ship, Zim took careful steps as he glanced around, the heels of his invader boots clicking against the surface. It was definitely old technology compared to the advancements that had been made recently. Zim hardly recognized it. Ford was likely right about it crashing here so long ago. He placed a hand on the dusty wall, scraping away plants and dirt to better inspect the markings and going through the data in his PAK to try and read the language. 

Zim’s eyes widened. Moo-Ping 10. Well, it had the older version of the name on the wall, but this ship definitely worked in unison with the space prison. Perhaps it had been a guard ship, or they had transported big time criminals. Or they had very valuable materials that they were preventing from being stolen. It could be any number of things! The security system that was installed brought fearful escapees or guilty burglars straight to a Moo-Ping 10 location where they would spend the rest of their life. 

Zim turned to see both humans watching him expectantly. 

Zim cleared his throat. “Well, eh… I believe this species and system is actually extinct now. This technology is extremely old, obviously. But there may be something here I can use.” 

“Great! Let’s look around then!” Dipper smiled, and the three carefully picked through all the old parts. 

Zim knelt down by a pile of broken tech parts, and began to collect a few small things he might be able to use to repair his voot. A few bonding substances, small tools, and the like. He stored them in his PAK.

“Do you think this species came here to study Earth too? I wonder how they got here?” Dipper thought aloud, digging around near Zim. 

Zim shook his head. “Earth is very far out. My approximation is that they were pathetically banned to the far reaches of space! They ran into trouble, or ran out of fuel, and crashed into Earth! Unfortunate for them.”

Dipper tilted his head. “Really? Huh… So how did your species find out about Earth?” 

“Eh..” Zim nervously tinkered with a few materials on the ground. “We just noticed an unknown, secret planet on the map! So.. they sent me to investigate!” 

“That’s cool. You’re like an explorer!” Dipper smiled. 

“That is one word for it,” Zim grumbled.

Another hour of searching around, and Zim was ready to go. This place was giving him the creeps. He felt like one misstep was going to send him straight to prison. He could not go there (again). He had to continue his mission here! Prove himself! 

Zim voiced to the humans that he was ready to go, that he’d gotten a few things that were certainly going to be better than any HUMAN tools at least, and the trio headed to the ladder to climb back up. 

Watching the humans push the rock back in place again, Zim let out a silent breath. He did have to wonder how this ship got here, and who had been inside when it crashed. ..And could they or their descendents still be on Earth? Where had they gone? Had they died instantly? Did they evolve into something else over time? Had they just been… stuck and slowly rotted away here? No one came for them? He shook his head to clear it, and turned to walk back through the woods with his new companions. No matter. He likely would never know. He had his own mission to worry about. He would not be like them. He was not going to spend the rest of his days rotting on this miserable planet like them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember how the pterodactyl had babies?? yes they are still alive
> 
> Thanks for reading this far! Next chapter, no worries, Dib is def showin' up and the real fun will begin


	3. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dib and Gaz join the mix!

“Look at this place, Gaz! Why would Zim run off here, HUH? What’s he trying to hide? Or maybe FIND?” A young man in his 20s, with dark and pointy hair, round glasses, and wearing a long black jacket, lifted up a pot of flowers on someone’s porch to look underneath for any alien traps. Seeing nothing, he placed the pot back down and continued walking along the path through the town. He grit his teeth. “What are you planning, Zim…” 

“Shut UP, Dib,” Gaz huffed, rolling her eyes before taking her attention away from her phone to squint at him as they walked. “This is why I have to go with you to places to make sure you don’t get arrested. Put the goat down.” 

Dib paused, then slowly set down the goat he’d taken into his arms and glared at it. “I’m onto you…” 

The goat bleated, then ran off. 

“There’s gotta be something about this place,” Dib went on. “Why else would Zim choose it?” 

“Dib, Zim’s an idiot. Just like you. He probably doesn’t even KNOW what he’s doing,” Gaz shook her head. 

“I can’t afford to underestimate him…” Dib mumbled. “I have to be ready for anything.”

“Maybe he’s finally giving up,” Gaz stated. “I mean, this can’t go on forever.” 

“Zim? Give up? Yeah right! He’ll never give up, which is why I’ll never give up either,” Dib ranted. 

“Whatever,” his sister sighed, and went back to scrolling through her phone, her free hand holding her backpack strap on her shoulder. 

After a few minutes of walking, Dib began to notice a repetition of signs throughout the town advertising a “Mystery Shack”, and, with his interest piqued at the mention of mysteries and cryptids, he began to follow in the direction they were pointing. The signs led the siblings down a path further into the woods before they saw the building. It seemed very old; it was run down but in a charming kind of way and every sign seemed lovingly handmade. It was declared to be “world famous” from the signs, but then why hadn’t Dib heard of a place like this?? Why hadn’t the Swollen Eyeball ever reported on this? He decided it had to be because everything here was fake. It was just one of those tourist traps. But he had to make sure. 

He pushed open the door to the gift shop and stepped inside as a bell jingled, eyes darting around suspiciously. 

Gaz followed him and raised a brow. “Why are we in a gift shop?” 

“I’m investigating..” Dib walked through the aisles, inspecting the merchandise. Tacky and overpriced, as expected. 

Gaz glanced at the cashier, who didn’t even look up from their magazine. Fair enough. She made her way over to the sunglasses rack to try on a few pairs, while her brother did…. whatever he was doing. 

“MOVE IT, DIP-DOP, THE LAST POPSICLE IS MIIIIINE!” a loud, female voice suddenly shrieked, along with shuffling, pounding and crashing sounds like two people were barreling down some stairs. 

“NO WAY, I DESERVE IT!!” a male voice responded, and two people burst into the gift shop from a different part of the building. They fought their way to the freezer, elbowing and kicking each other and laughing. Though the young woman, Mabel, stopped when she noticed Dib staring at her in surprise, and grinned. 

“Ha HA!” Dipper held up the popsicle in victory, but his sister was already gone. He glanced around, then rolled his eyes when he saw her strutting on up to a guy in a trench coat. Here we go. 

“Heyyyyy, there! I’m Mabel, who are you?” she asked brightly. 

Dib blinked, standing up straighter, caught off guard. “Uh… Hi. I’m Dib.”

“Nice to meetcha, Dib! That’s a cute name! Like the ice cream Dibs! So what brings you to the ol’ Mystery Shack??” Mabel leaned closer to him curiously. 

“UH..” Dib coughed into his fist, completely and utterly unused to random and friendly conversation. “Touristy… stuff. I’m totally a tourist.” He pouted when he heard Gaz snort at him from across the room. 

“That’s cool! Y’know, my great uncles founded this place!” Mabel chimed. “Oh, that’s my brother, Dipper, over there!” 

“Sup?” Dipper waved, while enjoying his popsicle. 

Dib nodded slowly. How to make small talk like a normal person… uh…. “That’s my sister, Gaz!” 

Gaz raised a brow, then shrugged. “What’s cool to do around here?” 

“Lots of stuff!! I could show you guys!” Mabel offered. “We could--” She was cut off, as another person stepped into the gift shop. 

A very green person. Wearing big sunglasses, wig in a bob, and human girl clothes over their deep magenta irken invader uniform.

“I got DISGUSTING PIG HAIR all over that last skirt, so I changed into THIS one. Do you think it clashes with my…..” Zim trailed off as he made direct eye contact with Dib, and the two stared at each other for a whole five seconds in dead silence. 

And then Zim let out a shriek and ran back into the house. 

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” Dib yelled and zoomed after the alien, going past the “employees only” sign. 

The twins shared a flabbergasted look before racing after them as well. 

Gaz was completely unperturbed, going back to trying on sunglasses and looking in the little mirror by the stand. 

Zim leapt over the living room couch, Dib copying him, hot on his heels. Zim ran into the kitchen, knocking over a few chairs as he made a loop around the kitchen table and shoved past a very confused Stanley, twin brother of Stanford Pines. 

“What the--” Stan started, and then Dib ran by next, causing Stan to stumble, and he dropped his plate of food on the ground, face down. “Aw, oh, that’s just… WHYYY??” He grieved his fallen sandwich, throwing his hands up in the air. 

Zim ran back through the living room, and darted up the stairs. He could feel Dib right on his trail, like he always was. 

It was thrilling. 

The irken sprinted into the attic, and then almost tripped over a big pile of sweaters. Dib tackled him then, and the two rolled on the floor, until Dib was pinning Zim down, using his height to his advantage. 

“I KNEW I would find you! What’s your game, space boy? HUH?” Dib leaned close to his face, breath hot on his skin, as both of them panted and glared at each other. Zim’s sunglasses had been flung from his face, so Dib was looking right into those huge, evil and sparkling magenta eyes. “Whatever you do, it won’t work. I’ll make sure of it.” 

“FOOL!” Zim shrieked, squirming in Dib’s grip and kicking his short legs. “RELEASE ZIM AT ONCE! I WILL RAIN DOOM DOWN UPON YOU, PUNY EARTH WEAKLING!” 

“Hey!! What is going on!?” Mabel yelped as she and Dipper burst into the room. “Let him go!” 

“WHAT?” Dib fumed. “WHY are you defending him? He’s an alien!” And then, Dib was being shoved. 

“Hold up, man!” Dipper wrestled Dib away from Zim, and the guy was stronger than he looked. 

Zim’s eyes were huge as he scooted back, watching Dipper defend him from Dib, his mind reeling on what to think of such protection. 

Dib grit his teeth and wrestled away from Dipper, standing up. But now both twins were between him and Zim. “What the hell?! What are you DOING? That’s ZIM! He’s evil! He’s here to take over Earth!”

Zim stood, dusting off his skirt and fixing his wig. “Do not listen to him! The smelly, pointy boy is full of LIES! LIIIIIES!” 

“What? Okay okay okay, just STOP! Everyone stop!” Dipper held his hands up, one to Dib and one to Zim as he glanced over at him. “Zim? How do you know this guy?” 

“We went to ‘skool’ together,” Zim said calmly, continuing to straighten up his outfit. “And he constantly harasses me.”

“Because you want death to all humans!” Dib retorted, crossing his arms and shooting the alien a venomous look. 

“Heyyy!” Mabel frowned. “Let’s just get along, okay? Zim’s been super sweet since we’ve met him!” 

“He’s faking it!” Dib accused. “I’ve known Zim for YEARS! I’ve been studying him! I know him better than anyone else! And I KNOW he’s an irken invader, sent to conquer Earth! I’ve been stopping every plan of his since I was a kid, and I’ll keep doing so!” 

“I am simply OBSERVING Earth, idiot monkey!” Zim snarled. “You just cannot tell the difference!” 

“UGH!!” Dib threw his arms up. “When I get my hands on you, Zim-!” 

“OKAY, let’s take a breath here, yeah?” Dipper interrupted quickly before things could continue to escalate. “Look, I let Zim stay here after he crashed and was injured. Nothing bad has happened so far. But obviously, you two have a history, sooo.. Is there a way to resolve the problem you two have?”

“There is no medication tough enough to rid me of my DIB-sease,” Zim jutted his chin up, huffing. 

“Oh, ohhh good one, space boy. And I should try to find bug spray strong enough for a pest as big as YOU.” 

Mabel laughed, then quickly covered her mouth. “Sorry.. You guys are kinda funny!” 

“I’m being serious! Zim is a threat to humanity!” Dib shouted. 

“Oh, c’mon!” Mabel made her way over to Zim and cupped his cheeks to make his face look chubby. “He doesn’t mean any harm here! So no more fighting, right? We’re just nursing him and his ship back to health!”

Zim smacked her arms away. “YES. Eh… No harm meant!” 

Dib narrowed his eyes suspiciously. What was Zim doing? “I find that hard to believe.”

“Hold the attitude, HUMAN!” 

“Hey, wait a minute! Did you say your name was Dib?” Dipper squinted. “What’s your last name?” 

Dib sighed. “...Membrane.”

“Like that scientist!” Dipper exclaimed, like Dib had guessed he was going to do. 

“Yeah,” Dib huffed, not looking very happy with the comparison.

Dipper rubbed the scruff on his chin, thinking. He had heard of Professor Membrane on TV (and because his great uncle Ford always talked shit about him whenever he saw anything about him), who seemed pretty hardcore into scientific advancements. What if Dib was some kind of investigator if not scientist, looking for an excuse to take Zim and study him? Vivisect him? Keep him locked up? Dipper couldn’t, in good conscience, allow this to happen. Even if Zim wasn’t completely pure-hearted towards humans (Dipper hadn’t seen him do anything bad yet, though it had only just been a day), he could speak and communicate with them. He was a person, even if not human! He couldn’t let Dib take him. If Zim really was here for something bad, Dipper was sure he and Mabel would be able to talk him out of it (or defeat him if need be). But why not give Zim a chance? 

“Well I am not going with DIB! I am staying right HERE. And that is only the choice of ZIM!” the irken declared loudly to break the small silence.

“Yeah, we’re letting Zim stay here!” Mabel agreed, nodding, and Dipper looked at Dib expectantly as though daring him to make a move against them.

Dib’s eyes darted between the twins, then he glared at Zim. He was at a bit of an impasse here. If he fought on, it was three against one. Dib wasn’t really expecting Gaz to do much to help him, as she hadn’t even followed them up here, and sometimes he could hardly take Zim just by himself. Plus, the twins didn’t seem like people he should mess with. Zim was obviously using them for protection and salvation. Dib would have to find another way to get to him.

“Fine,” Dib spat, dusting off his jacket. “I’ll let you figure out the hard way that Zim’s up to no good. But I’m watching you, space boy. I’m going to be in this town as long as you are. Don’t you forget it.”

Zim lifted his chin up confidently, and smirked at the human in a way that infuriated him. “Yeah, right, Dib-stink.”

Dib snarled and turned, storming back down the squeaky stairs to his sister. “Let’s GO, Gaz!” 

Gaz had just bought a pair of sunglasses and was now wearing them. She shrugged and walked after him.

“They’re actually defending that monster..” Dib ranted as they walked back into town. “Well, they underestimate me if they think I’ll give up that easy! Soon, they’ll be THANKING me for saving them! Now, let’s find a hotel!” 

“That was crazy, Zim!” Mabel exclaimed once Dib had left. “You’ve known him for a while?” 

“For far too long, unfortunately!” Zim waved a hand. “But, never mind him! He just always looks for a way to undermine me!”

“Yeah.. Don’t worry. We’ll keep an eye out for you,” Dipper assured, thoughtful. 

Zim grinned wickedly, and felt a kind of glee he was almost unfamiliar with. He had never really had genuine allies before! Apart from Gir and Minimoose, who were MEANT to serve him and obey his every command (though they were currently back at the base guarding it like he’d ordered them to). Now he had a huge leg up against Dib, who only had his sister with him! Though, his sister was very scary and strong when angered, he would just have to avoid her wrath somehow. Keep her apathetic to the whole thing by not bothering her specifically. Either way! Zim sort of had a team here. It was quite exciting. “Perfect!” 

Using the twins to taunt Dib with would certainly be entertaining.


End file.
